Friday, May 25, 2012

I saw this video interview with Dr. Carl Trueman over at the Reformed Baptist Fellowship blog and just had to post it here as well. Dr. Trueman has a lot of very insightful and helpful things to say about the dangers of celebrity in the Church. But the interview is actually a wide-ranging discussion of many issues facing the Church in America today. I highly recommend listening closely to it.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

In my last post on this subject I wrote about how we can become more capable of ministering to others in their trials when we have first been comforted by God in our own trials, and I emphasized that such trials would include even the worst sorts of depression. In this post I want to us to focus on the wisdom we may receive from God and the joy we may experience even in the midst of trials, and such trials would again include depression. The
Apostle James discusses these themes in his epistle, so let's take a look next at his teaching on the
subject:

NKJ
James
1:2-3
“My brethren, count
it all joy when you fall into various trials [πειρασμός, peirasmós].3 knowing that the testing
of your faith produces patience.”

When James says that we should “count it all joy” when we fall into various of trials, he doesn't mean that we should like hurting, or act like we don't feel bad when painful things happen to us. He is saying that we should consider, regard, or view our trials with all joy or full joy (vs. 2), not with a view to how they feel when we are going through them, but because we know what they are for (vs. 3). They are for the testing of our faith so that we can learn patience, which is a good thing. Thus the source of our joy when enduring trials comes from the knowledge God has given us about their purpose in our lives.

It is a curious
thing that the Christian can experience joy even in the midst of
pain. For example, when the Apostles were taken before the
Sanhedrin and ordered to be beaten, they were able to rejoice, Luke
tells us in Acts 5:

NKJ
Acts
5:40-41 “And
they agreed with him, and when they had called for the apostles and
beaten them,
they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and
let them go. 41
So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that
they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.”

No doubt the
Apostles were still in a great deal of physical and emotional pain
from the beating and rejection they had endured, but this did not
stop them from having joy! This is because their joy stemmed from
what they knew to be true, that they were simply sharing in the
sufferings of Christ. And they knew what this meant, that they would
also share in His glory (such as we have already seen in our previous study of Romans 5, which we understood in the context of 8:17, e.g.).

The Greek term
translated trials – πειρασμός (peirasmós)
– is a key term in the first chapter of James, so it is important
to understand it. It can have several meanings, two of which appear
in this passage. For example:

It is the first
meaning – a test or trial – that James has in mind
here, although he will change to the second meaning – a temptation
to sin – later in the chapter (vs. 12f).
Here the word has a positive meaning, referring to a good
thing, but there it has a negative meaning, referring to an
evil thing.

This same kind of positive connotation is intended by James when he refers to the
testing of our faith in verse 3.
There he uses the Greek word δοκίμιον (dokímion),
which could be used to refer to the testing of gold, by which it was
determined to be without impurities. It too can be used with slightly
different connotations. For example, it can refer to::

So both of the term used by James in verse 2-3 refer to trials or testing in a positive light, as something good. In fact, the
Scriptures often speak of God as testing His people.
For example:

NKJ
Genesis
22:1
“Now it came to pass after these things that God tested [נָסָה, (nāsāh, test,
try,
prove);
LXX πειράζω (peirázō,
verb form related to the noun peirasmós used by James)]Abraham, and said to him, 'Abraham!' And he said, 'Here I am.'”
[The test was to ask Abraham to offer his only son,
Isaac, as a sacrifice.]

NKJ
Exodus
20:18-20
“Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes,
the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the
people saw it,
they trembled and stood afar off. 19
Then they said to Moses, 'You speak with us, and we will hear; but
let not God speak with us, lest we die.' 20
And Moses said to the people, 'Do not fear; for God has come to test
[נָסָה
(nāsāh);
LXX πειράζω, (peirázō)]
you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.'”

NKJ
Deuteronomy
8:11-16
“Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His
commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you
today, 12
lest-- when you
have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in
them; 13
and when
your herds and your flocks multiply,
and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have
is multiplied; 14
when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God who
brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; 15
who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, in
which were fiery serpents and scorpions
and thirsty land where there was no water; who brought water for you
out of the flinty rock; 16
who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not
know, that He might humble you and that He might test [נָסָה
(nāsāh);
LXX ἐκπειράζω, (ekpeirázō)
to test thoroughly]
you, to do you good in the end ….” [Note
the good purpose of trials as in James 1.]

NKJ
Deuteronomy
13:1-3
“If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he
gives you a sign or a wonder, 2
and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you,
saying,`Let us go after other gods'-- which you have not known --
'and let us serve them,' 3
you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of
dreams, for the LORD your God is testing [נָסָה
(nāsāh);
LXX πειράζω (peirázō)]
you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart
and with all your soul.”

NKJ Judges
2:20-23 “Then the anger of the LORD was hot
against Israel; and He said, 'Because this nation has transgressed My
covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not heeded My
voice, 21 I also will no longer drive out before them any
of the nations which Joshua left when he died, 22 so that
through them I may test [נָסָה
(nāsāh); LXX
πειράζω (peirázō)]
Israel, whether they will keep the ways of the LORD, to walk in them
as their fathers kept them, or not.' 23 Therefore
the LORD left those nations, without driving them out immediately;
nor did He deliver them into the hand of Joshua.”

Again, it is in
this same positive sense that James speaks of trials and
testing in this passage under study. He assumes, in fact, that God is at
work through them, for it is God who tests our faith, as He tested
the faith of our father Abraham, and it is God who seeks to produce
patience and maturity in us. This is why James can tell us to
count it all joy when we fall into various trials, knowingthat trials are not in themselves bad things, since they serve a
good purpose, to help us to attain to spiritual maturity.

This leads directly
into the next verse.

NKJ
James 1:4
“But let patience have its perfect
[τέλειος (téleios)]
work, that you may be perfect [τέλειος (téleios)]
and complete,
lacking nothing.”

Here James is
talking about spiritual maturity, and he once again uses a term that
can have different connotations, employing these different
connotations in order to make his point. For example, téleios can mean:

So, in order for us to
become téleios in the sense of mature, we need to learn patience, and we learn patience
through trials and the testing of our faith. But we must let patience
have its téleios work, that is its perfect work – or its full effect – in our
lives. Sadly, we live in a culture that is so focused upon feeling
good and being comfortable that far too many Christians refuse to let
patience have its perfect work. Through our impatience we thus
often simply refuse to grow! But we need to rethink the whole
issue of trials and get a Biblical perspective on them. Indeed, if we
are to consider them all joy, we need to learn to embrace them, even
to welcome them into our lives, should God choose to bring them –
which He will! So, if you haven't yet experienced many trials as a
believer, but you really do want to grow in Christ-likeness, then
be prepared for trials, because God has some testing for your faith on the way!

It is also worth noting that James uses this Greek term téleios
(perfect, mature] as a catchword later in this passage,
when he refers to God as the giver of “every good gift and every
perfect [τέλειος (téleios)]
gift” (vs. 17). This is James' way of
indicating that it is indeed God who is at work through the
testing of our faith, and it is His perfect work that is being
done in our lives. And this should bring us great comfort and joy in our
trials.

As
Charles Spurgeon once said:

It
would be a very sharp and trying experience to me to think that I
have an affliction which God never sent me, that the bitter cup was
never filled by his hand, that my trials were never measured out by
him, nor sent to me by his arrangement of their weight and quantity. (as cited by John Piper in a message entitled Charles Spurgeon: Preaching Through Adversity)

Thank God that He is
sovereign over all our trials – even the terrible trial of
depression – and has a good and glorious purpose in all of them! When
you encounter the trial of depression, do you count it all joy? Do
you see God's purpose in it? If not, then you need the wisdom taught
here by James. And if you can't seem to get a handle on this wisdom,
all you have to do is ask the Lord, as the next verse says.

NKJ
James 1:5
“If any of you lacks wisdom [not just
knowledge, but how to use knowledge],
let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach,
and it will be given to him.”

It is telling that
James brings up our need for wisdom here. He knows that we cannot and
will not have joy in our trials without the wisdom to see them from
God's point of view. And he knows that only God can give us this
wisdom, a wisdom he is sharing with us in this very passage – and that I
am sharing with you now.

James tells us that
wisdom is available from God Himself and can be had just for the
asking. And he wants us to be encouraged to ask God for wisdom
with confidence that He will indeed give it. He gives us two reasons
for such confidence:

God
is gives wisdom liberally
– that is, “wholeheartedly,
generously, without reserve”
(Friberg # 2824, BibleWorks).
The point is that God wants
to share His wisdom with His children, especially when they
encounter trials (which is what the context is about). As John later
tells us:

NKJ
1
John 5:14-15
“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask
anything according to His will, He hears us. 15
And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we
have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”

Well,
James tells us that it is
the will of God that we ask him for wisdom, especially when we
encounter various trials, so we can be confident that He will indeed
give it as necessary! This is an important reminder, since we may be
tempted during trials to wonder if God does indeed care about us. But if we
have His wise perspective about our trials, we will see that just
the opposite is true! God brings trials into our lives precisely because He does care about us so much.

God gives wisdom
without reproach – that is, “without chiding a man for
his previous sins,” as James Adamson puts it in his commentary
(NICNT, p. 56). When we struggle and ask God for wisdom, He is not
going to give it to us with an attitude that says, “I wouldn't
have to keep giving you wisdom if you weren't such a dolt!” On the contrary, He is going to give us wisdom without reproach of any kind.

But not only does
James give us encouragement to be confident in asking God for
wisdom, He also warns against asking without faith.

NKJ
James 1:6-8
“But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is
like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7
For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the
Lord; 8he is a
double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”

In the context, the
doubting James has in mind must be doubting God's purposes for our
trials. We must ask for the wisdom that He wants to give us in
sincerity. We cannot ask for God's perspective – His wisdom –
regarding our trials while at the same time refusing to believe what
He teaches us about them!

Some Christians
simply refuse to believe that God could ever have any
good purpose for suffering or difficulty in their lives, and thus they ask
for wisdom they are predisposed to reject. But any such Christian is
double-minded, wanting perhaps to have the spiritual maturity and
joy that God offers, but refusing to accept that it will come through
great difficulty. He is like “a wave of the sea driven and tossed
by the wind,” “in constant agitation without making any progress
to any result” (James Adamson, NICNT, p. 58). This man will receive
nothing from the Lord, not the wisdom he needs in order to endure
trails, nor the joy this brings as one endures trials, nor the
maturity these trials are designed to produce.

The author of
Hebrews makes a similar point when he writes:

NKJ Hebrews
11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please
Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that
He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

If
you struggle with depression, you may also be tempted to think that
it cannot possibly be God's perfect will for you, and you may find it
difficult to ask for wisdom with the kind of faith James is talking
about. Well, then, perhaps you should begin instead with another
prayer, such as the one the poor father of a demonized boy once
employed with Jesus, “Lord,
I believe;
help my unbelief!”
(Mark
9:24).

NKJ
James 1:9-11
“Let the lowly brother glory
in his exaltation, 10
but the rich [brother] in his humiliation, because as a flower of the
field he will pass away. 11
For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers
the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes.
So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits.”

These verses may at first seem out of place in James' teaching about
trials and about asking God for wisdom as we deal with trials. But it makes
sense when we consider that trials, and wisdom as we endure trials, are
necessary for both the poor [the meaning of lowly
in this context] and the rich. In fact, we may say that – for James
– trials are a kind of leveler that destroys class distinctions.
The rich man, who may seem to have advantages over the poor man where
certain trials are concerned, is not for all his riches exempt from them.
And his riches cannot get for him any more wisdom than is available
to the poor man. Nor will the rich man's pursuit of riches gain him
any lasting benefit that is not also available to the poor man in
Christ. Therefore
the poor man may glory
or boastin his exalted status as one who may posses the wisdom of God, and
the rich man may boast also in the humbling knowledge that he too
must rely upon God alone for the wisdom he needs.

But
James also knows that we will often be tempted
when we are tested,
and this is why he picks up this theme in the following verses.

NKJ
James 1:12
Blessed is the man
who endures [ὑπομένω (hupoménō);
recall ὑπομονή
(hupomonē, patience, endurance) in vss. 3-4]
temptation [πειρασμός (peirasmós)];
for when he has been approved [δόκιμος (dókimos);
recall δοκίμιον (dokímion)
in vs. 3],
he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to
those who love Him.

Notice that here
the NKJ translates peirasmós
as temptation rather than as trial (as in vs.
2). I think this is incorrect here. While I agree that James does shift the meaning of
the terminology in this passage, I think that he doesn't do so until
verse 13 (as in the ESV, NASB, NET, and
NIV). Here he still has trials in mind, and this sentence is
meant both to emphasize the ultimate good that comes from such trials and thus to sum up the intent of his teaching
regarding their necessity.

That this is the
correct view is reinforced by the way that James uses catchwords to
recall his earlier statements in verses 2-4, such as his refernce to approval after testing (dókimos hearkening back to dokímion) and patience (hupoméno hearkening back to hupomonē).

Also, previously he
was explaining why it is that we can have joy when we encounter
trials. And now he says that we are “blessed” when, with the help
of God's wisdom, we endure trials. The Greek word translated blessed
– μακάριος (makários)
– refers to a state of happiness that does not depend upon earthly
circumstances, but rather upon knowledge and experience of the
salvation that God offers and works out in our lives. It may or may
not be felt consistently, but it is the actual state of
the believer who trusts in the Lord.

Earlier James
referred more to the joy we can know as we contemplate trials that we
will face or that we are in the midst of, and how this joy is
dependent upon remembering what the end result of trials is intended
to be. Now in verse 12, however, James
is referring to the happiness we may possess from the standpoint of
having already endured a particular trial (note the singular).

When we we endure a
particular trial by God's grace, we grow in our understanding and
experience of just how blessed we are in the Lord, and this, in turn,
reminds us of the ultimate goal, the future life that God has
promised us. This is what the “crown of life” is referring to, as
Jesus also later reminded the church at Smyrna:

NKJ Revelation
2:10 “Do not fear any of those things which you are about to
suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into
prison, that you may be tested [πειράζω (peirázō)],
and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and
I will give you the crown of life.”

This crown of life
is promised by God not only to those who endure trials, but also,
James says, “to those who love Him.” These are just two different
ways of referring to genuine Christians, and they are interrelated.
We will not endure trials as we should if we do not love God. It is
love for Him – in response to his having first loved us (see 1
John 4:19) – that will help us to endure trials for His
sake, and it is through trials that we will deepen in our love for
Him.

Doesn't it make a
huge difference when we view the trials we face in the context
of a love relationship with our Heavenly Father!? We might
even say that how we endure trials is a good gauge of how much we
really do – or really don't – love God. And this is no less true
of the trial of depression.

At any rate, as we
see God keeping His promises and preserving us through various
trials, we are encouraged to be confident that He will take us to the
ultimate goal of our salvation as well. So, through trials we grow in
patience/endurance, in spiritual maturity, in faith, and in
happiness.

NKJ
James 1:13
“Let no one say when he is tempted [πειράζω (peirázō)],
'I am tempted [πειράζω (peirázō)]
by God'; for God cannot be tempted [ἀπείραστος (apeírastos)]
by evil, nor does He Himself tempt [πειράζω (peirázō)]
anyone.”

Now
we arrive at the point where James shifts the meaning of the Greek
verb peirázōin
order to indicate that the trials that
serve the good purpose of testing our faith can become for us
occasions for temptation. This is assumed by James, who does
not want us to be confused by this and think that these temptations
come from God. While it is true that God does testour
faith in order to mature us as Christians, the temptation to
sin that we may experience in the process does not come from
Him!

The
New Geneva Study Bible note on this verse is very helpful in this regard:

1:13
tempted. There is an important difference between the concepts
“test” and “tempt.” God tests people, but never tempts them
in the sense of enticing them to sin. Jesus, in the wilderness, was
tested by God and tempted by Satan. There is also a difference
between temptations that arise from our own sinful inclinations
(internal) and those coming from without (external). Jesus, being
free of original sin, was tempted externally but not internally. The
testing of our faith may be the occasion for temptations to come,
both internal and external, yet the temptations never have God as
their author. (p. 1959)

Now, although I appreciate the reasoning behind the distinction between the terms internal and external in the above cited note, I am not
sure I am completely satisfied with them. For example, although
Jesus was not tempted by any sinful internal inclinations,
didn't he experience hunger, for example, when He was tempted by
Satan, and wouldn't this be an internal factor that may have
made it more tempting to turn a stone into bread (Matt.
4:2-4)?
Still, however, the New Geneva
Study Bible is right to see the temptation of Christ as
instructive for us. And it rightly sees such an example in His wilderness temptations. For example:

NKJ Matthew
4:1 “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the
wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” (Note: Mark
says the Spirit “drove”
Him into the wilderness [1:12].)

This
passage is striking, in that it tells us that the Holy Spirit led
Jesus into the wilderness where He would be tempted by the devil. The
Holy Spirit led Him into a situation of great hunger and weariness,
into a situation of testing, but it is the devil who tempted Him, not
God. And Matthew sees no difficulty at all in stating the situation
in this way. He sees no problem in acknowledging that God is
sovereign over our lives and over evil in such a way that He does no
evil Himself and is not the author of sin or temptation. Evil – and
the temptation to evil – comes from Satan and from us, not from
God! And this is the very point James will make in the next two
verses.

NKJ
James 1:14-15
“But each one is tempted [πειράζω (peirázō)]
when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15
Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when
it is full-grown, brings forth
death.”

Temptation comes
from our own evil desires. It is a result of our own inherent
corruption. And when we allow these desires to entice us into
sinning, it is entirely our own fault.

Thomas
à Kempis described the process of temptation in a passage that is
undoubtedly based upon this text:

At
first it is a mere thought confronting the mind; then imagination
paints it in stronger colours; only after that do we take pleasure in
it, and the will makes a false move, and we give our assent. (Cited
by James Adamson, NICNT, p.72, footnote 101a)

Remember
that God tests our faith in order to mature us and ultimately to
grant us the crown of life. But James here describes a process of
temptation and sin that ultimately results in death, which most
likely refers to eternal death,
given that it is the opposite of the future, eternal
life mentioned in verse
12.
Aside from God's grace, this is the end result of giving into temptation to sin.

NKJ
James 1:16-17
“Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17
Every good gift and every perfect [τέλειος (téleios)]
gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with
whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”

The
only way that a person could make the mistake of attributing
temptation to God is that he is deceived and has forgotten that God
is good and does not change. Such a person has failed to realize that
God can give only good and perfect gifts.

In
fact, the Greek word James uses here to describe God's gifts as
perfect
– τέλειος
(téleios) – is a catchword that alludes back to verse
4, where he admonished the reader to“let patience have its
perfect [τέλειος (téleios)]
work, that you may be perfect [τέλειος (téleios)]
and complete, lacking nothing.” Thus, the trials
that test our faith are good and perfectgifts
from a good God, who has only what is best in mind for His children,
however difficult it may be for them to see it sometimes. It is just
such a perspective, according to James, that enables us to have joy
in trials, or as he put it in verse 2,
“to count it all joy.”

It must be possible, then, to have joy in the midst of any trial that we endure, including the trial of depression, however oxymoronic that may at first sound! It must be possible to experience the joy of knowing that God is at work for our good even when we struggle to feel good at all. I know it sounds crazy to many of you, but I can attest that it is true not only from Scripture but also from my own experience. God really can miraculously work in our hearts in such ways, and if we fail to believe it, then we need to see that we are guilty of the very double-mindedness about which James warns, and we need to ask God to forgive us and to give us His wisdom on the matter, believing that He can work in ways that we cannot understand in earthly terms.

At any rate, James'
teaching on the joy we can have in trials leads us to our next major
Biblical theme as we think about how to view depression in a
Scriptural way, and this is the theme of Christian joy. I will take up this theme in my next post on how we may move toward a Biblical perspective on depression.

For the sake of the Gospel, we, the undersigned, call upon Christian leaders and their respective ministries and organizations, if you plan on endorsing Governor Mitt Romney for the office of President of the United States, do so by clearly and unequivocally distancing yourself and Biblical Christianity from his Mormon beliefs.

We believe in the freedom of religion, the free exercise thereof, and the principles of a constitutional republic. Our Constitution does not require a religious “test” for any candidate to qualify for political office. Anyone should be allowed to run for office and serve if elected – regardless of their religious affiliations or lack thereof.

Further, it is not our intention with this call to bind the conscience of any individual by telling them how to vote. If an evangelical Christian chooses to vote for Mr. Romney (President Obama or any candidate), that is a decision between themselves and God.

The purpose of this call to evangelical Christians and leaders is two-fold:

1. To protect the purity and integrity of the Biblical Gospel.

2. To seize the opportunity to educate the America Public and Christians to the fundamental differences between historic Christian faith and that of the Latter-day Saints (Mormons).

While social and political causes are a vital and important part of the Church’s responsibilities, we believe that our primary function as Christians, both collectively and individually, is to preach and defend the Lord Jesus and His Gospel, as He is defined in the Bible, and has been affirmed in the historic Christian Church, its Councils and Creeds.

In our postmodern era, Christians are taught to believe that truth is relative and sincerity is more important than accuracy. However, we believe that the good news of the gospel – justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone – could be compromised if Mr. Romney receives unqualified public endorsements from Christian leaders, their ministries or organizations, thereby potentially confusing the evangelical Gospel with the soteriology (false gospel) of the Mormon Religion.

It is our contention that the general population should not be left with any uncertainty whether the theological cult of which Mitt Romney is a faithful member, namely The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), and historic evangelical Christianity are one and the same faith. This we adamantly deny!

Though the Mormon religion sets moral standards for its members that appear to be consistent with many evangelical morals, thereby appearing to project a Christian world and life view, it would be a serious theological error to equate Christianity with Mormonism simply based upon some common values.

Since the Mormon religion was founded in the early part of the nineteenth-century, it has always been classified as a “theological cult” by virtually every Bible-believing Christian denomination in the United States and the world. The reason they were given this “cult” label is based upon their theology. The doctrines espoused by this sect are not only unbiblical, but clearly anti-Christian.

These theological differences are not at all to be compared to the dissimilarities one finds between evangelicals in Christian denominations, such as, Baptists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Anglicans, Methodists, Pentecostals, etc. These denominations (in their original, historic confessions and doctrinal statements) embraced a foundational theology that is Biblical, historic, and orthodox. Although these evangelicals are divided on some points of Christian theology, often secondary issues, they actually agree more than they disagree. The historic evangelical Church has always maintained that orthodoxy (correct thinking or belief) is required in order for a denomination to be considered Christian. We refer to these doctrines collectively as “the essentials of the Christian faith.” Our doctrines are derived from the Bible alone and not from man-made theology.

Since its inception in the 19th century, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has deceptively labeled itself a “Christian” church. Its leaders used the historical accounts and key figures found in the Bible, but they ignore or contradict the Bible’s central theology.

If their founders had simply started this new religion without using the historical figures and Christian terminology, then Mormonism would simply be classified as just another world religion and not a theological cult. However, since they claim that they are the only true church or the purest New Testament church while rejecting Biblical and historic Christian theology, Mormonism has accurately been classified as a “cult.”

I would encourage all the blog's readers to read the rest of the document here, which includes a well-sourced treatment of "Why Mormonism is NOT Christian." I would also encourage you to consider adding your signature to the document. Dr. Richard P. Belcher, a contributor to this blog, is one of the original signers, and I have signed it as well.

Tuesday, May 08, 2012

I just viewed this video from Phil Johnson over at the Reformed Baptist Fellowship blog, and I just had to post it here as well. Once again I find myself in close agreement with Phil's perspective (as I was here), and once again I find myself profoundly grateful for his contribution to the discussion of such important issues facing the Church today. I also encourage you to check out Phil's blog here.

If you are interested in the Sharper Iron Forum he mentions in the message, you can check it out here.

In this video Dr. Trueman, Professor of Historical Theology and Church History at Westminster Theological Seminary, does an excellent job of briefly describing why John Owen was such an important theologian in the Reformed tradition and why reading Owen's works today can be so valuable and helpful.

Welcome To The Blog

"Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen." Hebrews 13:20-21

Do you know Christ as Lord and Savior?

"What is a Reformed Baptist?" Poll

To regard oneself as a Reformed Baptist, one must ...

adhere at a minimum to a Calvinistic soteriology.

adhere at a minimum to a Calvinistic soteriology and to Covenant Theology.